I think the top gives enough away for you to understand what this day was all about. Now, 3 years ago I had the privilege of going to Harry Potter studios with my parents. We spent 6 hours there and every minute of that time spent was well worth it. My sister had never been before, so when we were planning our trip that was the one thing she really wanted to do. I had no objections to this request as I only slightly, like have the tiniest of interests in Harry Potter....(insert Ron Wesley sweater here....). Anyways. Let's talk about Harry Potter Day.
We had 12 o'clock reservations at the studio tour, and I knew with travel time we needed to leave at least an hour prior, maybe even an hour and a half. We decided to sleep in, as we were still recovering from traveling. Then we got up and had a slow morning. Eggs with toast for breakfast obviously accompanied by a cup of tea. We washed up the dishes, got ready and headed out for a fabulous day.
There was no problems finding the station, it's England, they make things easy like that. But once we were in the station we had to buy tickets to the land of Potter. We stood in line, approached the window and the woman told us to use our oyster cards. Okay...this is where I was confused, last time I went we bought tickets, and I did not see any trains that looked like ones I had rode on before. Nonetheless, we had some time to wait as the train had just left while we were waiting to purchase tickets (which we ended up not purchasing...do you follow...) We headed inside a grocery store and bought lunch for ourselves for later. We decided to catch the next train out...except we were dumb and got on the overground. This took MUCHHHHHH longer than the train had taken. I still remember sitting on the overground and seeing trains fly past us. Then, I would look at my phone and watch the minutes just tick tick tick on by. I was trying not to panic on the outside because my sister externally worries enough for the both of us (surprising coming from me, I know). Anyways, any time Annie would ask what time it was I would respond and then add "It's totally fine, people are late all the time I'm sure." I'm not sure if I was reassuring her but I was most definitely trying to reassure myself. 12 years later, we arrived at the station.
I told my sister there would have to be a bus sign for the studios and there was, along with a mass crowd of tourists queuing in line for the "Knight Bus" to pick them up. It's actually just a Harry Potter bus but I honestly don't know why they didn't make it a Knight Bus as that would be extremely fitting. Hmph. Why people don't ask me these things, I'll never know....
Once aboard the bus, we grabbed seats closest to the front. The video started up and one of the first things the announcer said was "Don't worry if you're late, we have plenty of other tours you can join for the day." HALLELUJAH! I was so relieved that I actually could enjoy myself again. We arrived at the studios and my sister and I were so very excited. We got in line to retrieve our reserved tickets and off we went into Harry Potterland.
I was thrilled. My sister decided to purchase a listening guide (she did this before we left on our trip, so technically she was picking it up, I tried to discourage her from using it but she's a stickler and had already paid for it...) Anyways...inside the studios we went!
They make you sit in a giant theater where you watch a bit on the movie magic, and then the screen lifts and the entrance to the great hall is just...THERE. And it makes an old lady like me nearly collapse with excitement. Into the great Hall you go where they try to weasel you out of there very quickly, I don't listen to them, so we were some of the last to leave the hall. Also there were school children everywhere and i was annoyed.
Basically we meandered around the rest of the studio looking at every costume and bit of info, set designs, video clips, and reading everything. Annie was like the very last person to leave the hall, I lost her for 15 minutes, but she was actually at the beginning of the studio, where I was very much past and was sitting on a bench waiting for her. She read everything, listened to everything. I had seen it all before so I was going much faster, but I tried to chill. I just wanted to get to the new installments...the forbidden forest and the train station. I would have to wait about 2 hours to get there.
Annie, being Annie, had to do all the photo ops, dress ups, and "magic" practice she could. Slightly embarrassing for me, but then again, I was at Harry Potter studios, and I'm sure they have seen much worse. Annie made me dress up in the school robes and pose for a photo. I was dreading it, and then I saw Mr. Hottie Photo Man and I was like, please please please go on break. Well he did, right after he took our photo. DANG IT. And no, I never saw him again.
We made our way through the rest of the studio A, and then there it was, the FORBIDDEN FOREST. I was beyond excited. Until the spiders dropped from the ceiling and surround you. Gross. But they do have fog pooling out and trees everywhere and it's dark. SO GOOD!
PLATFORM 9 3/4 WAS SO UNREAL. Like I almost cried. The actual exterior train just sits there casually like it isn't a mega movie star. But it so is. Like hello. We got to hop aboard and see each year at Hogwarts on the train. I loved it. Like so so so so worth it. I almost cried. But I didn't.
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| My sister and the train |
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| This is me acting on the train when the dementors come aboard.... |
We took photos (when I saw we I mean I took photos of dramatic Annie posing on every single set piece she could) outside. They had finally opened up the Durselys home so YIPPEE!! We got to walk through the main entry which was awesome and very short lived. Next up, studio B.
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| She likes to act. |
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| She loves posing. |
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| DIAGON ALLEY...and the listening guideEnlga |
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